Tag Archives: wheelchair

Slips and falls due to slippery sidewalks and other similar surfaces pose a real concern, whether an individual does or does not have a brain injury. However, the risks of injuring oneself in this way after a brain injury are often more frequent and more serious.

Many brain injury survivors are able to walk after their injuries but find that their balance is not as good as it was prior to an injury. Since these survivors can lose their balance more easily, this puts them at a greater risk to slip and fall on wet, slippery surfaces. Similarly, many survivors do not have reaction times quite as sharp as they did prior to their injuries, so they have more difficulty regaining their balance after a slip. Additionally, many survivor have one side of their bodies that is weaker than the other. When they fall, they tend to fall to the weaker side so there is little useful opportunity to brace themselves for falls. This potentially makes falls far more serious than they would have been prior to brain injuries.

Survivors in wheelchairs are also at risk for accidents due to slippery sidewalks and other surfaces. The wheels on wheelchairs easily slip on wet surfaces. Wheelchairs pick up speed very quickly on wet sidewalk ramps. This contributes to potential accidents and injuries, as it’s difficult for survivors to control their wheelchairs at these higher speeds. Wet leaves and other slippery items on ramps often exacerbate these risks.

Keep the following tips in mind to reduce slips and falls on wet sidewalks and similar surfaces:

Always check the weather before heading out for daily activities.

Make sure leaves are regularly swept up in locations where they tend to accumulate on sidewalks. Don’t be shy about mentioning to businesses that you may not be able to enter an establishment if there are wet leaves by entrances and exits.

Be extra careful while traveling in a wheelchair or even simply walking both during and after a rainstorm.

When possible, use sidewalk ramps that are covered by an overhang which shields from rain.

Following their injuries, many brain injury survivors are left depending upon wheelchairs to meet basic mobility needs. This change in mobility creates new safety considerations that must be taken into account on a daily basis. One of these considerations surrounds strategies for safely navigating a parking lot while in a wheelchair.

Most adults are between 5 and 6.5 feet tall. They are accustomed to being easily visible to drivers distractedly circling a parking lot and through rear windshields as drivers back up vehicles out of parking spaces. When sitting in a wheelchair though, normal adults are often effectively no taller than young children. Even the most conscientious driver can struggle while exiting a parking space to see a pedestrian in a wheelchair. These survivors are also often harder to see by a driver making the turn from one parking lot lane on to another. Due to this change in baseline visibility, survivors in wheelchairs and their families must be more vigilant of vehicle activity and the abilities at every identifiable moment of drivers to see the survivors. They must spend more time looking around to observe vehicle activity, just as they would when in the presence of a small child who may slip the notice of nearby drivers.

Another issue regarding parking lot safety is that survivors in wheelchairs are generally slower than the average person would be while moving across the same parking lot. Since it takes more time to traverse any distance, survivors and their families must add extra time in their calculations as to whether there might be enough time to safely cross in front of an approaching vehicle. If the result of such calculations inspire even the suggestion of doubt, erring on the side of patience is always the best policy. Sometimes, family and friends may need to push the survivors’ wheelchairs to help move quickly enough to safely avoid traffic. Additionally, typical adults generally can step up onto the curb from the parking lot at any location they choose. Survivors in wheelchairs must use curb cut ramps which often means that they have to take a longer route to get onto the curb and consequently spend more time in the path of vehicles. Again, survivors and their families must be aware of this additional urgency when choosing a path across any parking lot.

These are just a few quick points on wheelchair safety in the parking lot. I hope everyone has a safe time in their travels, particularly in parking lots!

Due to the necessary and intimate often long-term dependence upon it, a brain injury survivor’s wheelchair should in all fairness be considered as having a special privacy attached to it. A wheelchair can often grow to be experienced as an extension of the survivor’s own body. Nearly every time a wheelchair is touched, the survivor using it will feel the contact as well. As a result, grabbing or touching a survivor’s wheelchair without permission can be a cause for significant distress. It is always a good idea to ask permission prior to touching, grabbing, pushing or engaging in any such activity with a survivor’s wheelchair. This shows respect to the survivor and his or her personal boundaries.
Similarly, it is common for a survivor to keep some form of a bag on the back of a wheelchair in order to hold important items. Again, there should rightly be considered a great deal of privacy as attached to such a bag. Going though the bag without permission shows just as much disrespect as going through a lady’s purse without permission. For the same reason you don’t rifle through someone’s purse without permission, it is important to ask a survivor’s permission prior to attempting to access his or her bag. A simple request for permission will go a long way to ensuring a respectful and harmonious environment.